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TELECOM UPDATE
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published weekly by Angus TeleManagement Group
http://www.angustel.ca
Number 552: October 27, 2006
Publication of Telecom Update is made possible by generous
financial support from:
** AVAYA: www.avaya.ca/
** BELL CANADA: www.bell.ca/home/Home_Business.page
** CISCO SYSTEMS CANADA: www.cisco.com/ca/
** ERICSSON: www.ericsson.ca
** MICROSOFT CANADA: www.microsoft.ca/communications/
** NEC UNIFIED SOLUTIONS: www.necunifiedsolutions.com
** ROGERS TELECOM: www.rogers.com/solutions
** SHAW BUSINESS SOLUTIONS: www.shawbusinesssolutions.ca
** VONAGE CANADA: www.vonage.ca
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IN THIS ISSUE:
** 911 Fails in St. John's Phone Outage
** Policy Review Wrong on Wireless -- CWTA Report
** Solution Proposed for Alberta Number Shortage
** Mandatory 10-Digit Dialing Hits Montreal
** MPs Want Regulatory Changes Delayed
** Cisco Intros High-Def Videoconferencing
** Second Fibre Link to Newfoundland Proposed
** NEC Intros Converged Mobility
** Telus Seeks Local Forbearance in Fort McMurray
** MTS Expands Wi-Fi Coverage
** Look Retains Financial Advisors
** Spotwave Boosts Home Cell Reception
** Bell Aliant Revenue Stable
** Shaw Cablephone Expansion Speeds Up
911 FAILS IN ST. JOHN'S PHONE OUTAGE: Residences and businesses across
Newfoundland lost 911 service and Internet access for five hours on
October 20. The outage, triggered by an electrical fire in a Bell
Aliant switching centre, cut all phone service to over 100,000
customers in St. John's.
** Provincial Emergency Measures Organization Director Fred
Hollett said "We expect the telephone systems to work in
times of emergency" and announced an investigation.
POLICY REVIEW WRONG ON WIRELESS -- CWTA REPORT: A report prepared by
Wall Communications for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications
Association says that the report of the Telecom Policy Review used
"limited and selective data" in its analysis of Canadian wireless
deployment and pricing. As a result, it "mischaracterizes the relative
position of Canada to other OECD countries including the U.S."
** The Wall report says that setting aside spectrum for new
entrants, as proposed by the TPR, may "have distorting
market effects" and that it is "questionable whether the
Canadian market can support a fourth mobile wireless
entrant."
http://www.cwta.ca/CWTASite/english/pdf/WallTPRP.pdf
SOLUTION PROPOSED FOR ALBERTA NUMBER SHORTAGE: The NPA 403/780 Relief
Planning Committee has agreed on a plan to solve the looming phone
number shortage in Alberta (see Telecom Update #548
http://www.angustel.ca/update/up548.html#NUMBER SHORTAGES LOOM IN B.C.,
ALBERTA . If approved by the CRTC, the proposal would leave the
existing codes (403 and 780) unchanged, and add a new code (probably 587
or 825) as an overlay on both.
** This proposal would result in mandatory 10-digit local
dialing throughout Alberta, beginning early in 2009.
MANDATORY 10-DIGIT DIALING HITS MONTREAL: 10-digit dialing for local
calls becomes mandatory in the 514 and 450 area codes on Saturday,
October 28: local calls dialed without the area code will no longer go
through. The change enables introduction of a new area code, 438, as an
overlay.
MPs WANT REGULATORY CHANGES DELAYED: Over the opposition of Conservative
MPs, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and
Technology has voted to ask Cabinet to delay any changes to telecom
regulation until the committee completes its report on Industry Minister
Bernier's proposals. (see Telecom Update #530, 536)
CISCO INTROS HIGH-DEF VIDEOCONFERENCING: Cisco Systems says it will
begin shipping a new high-definition corporate videoconferencing system
in December. The company announced two models: TelePresence 1000, for
small meetings, is US$79,000 per station, and TelePresence 3000, for
meetings of 12 or more people, is US$299,000 per station.
** Cisco also announced the acquisition of Orative Corp, a
33-person company whose technology will allow Cisco to add
cellphones and smartphones to its Unified Communications
portfolio.
SECOND FIBRE LINK TO NEWFOUNDLAND PROPOSED: A consortium that includes
Rogers Communications, Allstream, and Persona Communications is seeking
provincial government support to build an $82 million fibre-optic link
from Newfoundland to the mainland. At present Bell Aliant carries all
telecom traffic from Newfoundland.
NEC INTROS CONVERGED MOBILITY: NEC Unified Solutions has announced a
portfolio of enterprise Wi-Fi systems that combine voice, data,
multimedia, and business applications. The "Univerge Assured Mobility"
products will be launched by March 2007.
TELUS SEEKS LOCAL FORBEARANCE IN FORT MCMURRAY: Telus has asked the CRTC
to deregulate its residential phone service in the Fort McMurray,
Alberta exchange, where the telco believes Shaw and Vonage now have more
than 25% market share. This is the first application for local
forbearance since the CRTC issued Telecom Decision 2006-15 (see Telecom
Update #524).
** Telus argues that the Fort McMurray exchange is the
appropriate geographic area for forbearance, not the
larger Wood Buffalo/Cold Lake area.
** Telus says that it has met competitor QoS standards for
six months on residential LNP, the only Telus service used
by local competitors in the exchange.
http://www.crtc.gc.ca/PartVII/eng/2006/8640/t66_200613069.htm
MTS EXPANDS WI-FI COVERAGE: MTS Allstream now offers Wi-Fi Interne
access at more than 60 hotspots in Manitoba, double the number when
service was launched in July. Customers can also use 300 FatPort
locations across Canada. Price: $20/month.
LOOK RETAINS FINANCIAL ADVISORS: Look Communications has retained
Greenhill & Co. to assist in "the strategic repositioning of Look" and
in "maximizing shareholder value." Look's principal asset is 92 MHz of
licensed bandwidth in the 2.5 GHz band. (See Telecom Update #538)
SPOTWAVE BOOSTS HOME CELL RECEPTION: Ottawa-based Spotwave Wireless
says its new Z1900 Intelligent Wireless Signal Booster will improve
cellular reception and maximize wireless download speeds in homes and
small offices of up to 2,500 square feet. The device, said to be easy
to install out of the box, will retail for $399.
BELL ALIANT REVENUE STABLE: Bell Aliant's first quarterly report shows
third-quarter operating revenue of $818 million, up 1.8% from that of
its components a year earlier. A 9.6% rise in data/Internet revenue
outweighed declines in local and long distance sales.
SHAW CABLEPHONE EXPANSION SPEEDS UP: Shaw Communications added 43,744
phone lines in the quarter ended August 31, half again as many as in
the previous quarter: it now has 212,707 phone customers.
** Revenue of $632 million for the quarter was up 12.2% from
a year earlier. Net income tripled--or doubled, if one-
time items are excluded.
** CEO Jim Shaw told reporters that his company has no plans
to offer wireless service.
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TeleManagement Group Inc. All rights reserved. For further
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e-mail jriddell@angustel.ca.
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John Riddell (jriddell@angustel.ca)